Number XXIX Painting

I was born with sickle cell anemia, a disease which modifies the production of red blood cells from a round shape to a crescent, or sickle-shaped, one. This disease is a genetic shield meant to protect my body from contracting malaria, which is useful in the sub-Saharan African climate of my Ghanaian ancestry. Since early childhood my primary coping skill for dealing with my illness has been to create paintings. This body of work is created from the union of two worlds: colors and patterns inspired by the traditional Ghanaian Ntoma textiles; coupled with a voice devoted to the visual portrayal of an abstract disease devoid of any reference to the objective world as a means of personal escapism. I aim to continue the conversation artists such as Donald Rodney (1961-1998) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) began in the 1980's, exploring the intersection of sickle cell disease, black identity, and the African diaspora, as expressed through their art. These paintings are my self-prescribed treatments, each one serving as a concrete visual symbol of anti-suffering - a direct contradiction to the sterile and colorless hospital rooms where some of my most excruciating experiences of the disease have taken place. Abundant in color and texture, they shield me from the darkest recesses of my inner self, heavily scarred from decades of dealing with abstract pain. They are meant to engage the viewer in ways that I personally cannot, conveying solely in a language of color and form, the defiance of life without relying on objective vocabulary. They are all executed on square canvases, a shape that brings connotations of order, consistency, and stability, realities which are contradictory to the experience of living with sickle cell anemia.